Rose

                                            
This is my first entry on Doctor Who! My plan is to discuss each episode and its value. Keep in mind that there will be spoilers for episode, so make sure you watch it before reading this. We begin with Rose, the first episode of the new series started in 2005. Thank goodness the show survived after this painful pilot. With retro music, idiotic characters, and a paper thin plot riddled with holes, Eccleston's era started as a mess. The only thing that kept this show viewable for fans was that the Doctor was instantly likable, as usual.
     The show begins in a strange montage of Rose's day--her looking like a slob, her kissing Mickey, her still looking like a slob, her working...all to a strange 90's beat that at best could be called unique. As Rose descends into a scary lower basement, we dive pretty quickly into action. Truth be told, it is a pretty solid start. The creepy manikins turn their heads toward Rose in an isolated basement, and the Doctor takes her away to run from the monsters in a classic beginning to a Who episode. And then it starts to falter. As the elevator closes on the manikin reaching through the doors, the Doctor pops its arm off.
     Let's jump forward a little. We know from the episode as a whole that the plastic is being controlled by the Nestene Consciousness, giving it life. Something about the plastic allows the Consciousness to enter. The idea of it possessing mannequins comes immediately to mind in a sci-fi show, but we also know that it isn't limited to human forms. Therefore, the Doctor should immediately realize that the arm is going to create trouble. Instead, he cheerfully hands it to Rose as if it's harmless and lets her carry it all the way home, getting to his own silly shenanigans.
     And what shenanigans are those, again? He needs to blow up a transmitter that's controlling the plastic in this building. However, what could the plastic possibly do that's more harmful than blowing up the entire store in a gigantic explosion? And how did he know the building was clear of people, again?
     So Rose goes home, which is an immediate plummet for the pacing of the show. All the characters at this point are unlikable except the Doctor, which makes any scene without him kind of painful, especially the ones with Mickey. The show tries to make us dislike him extremely hard, only to make him one of the main protagonists of the episode.
     The Doctor makes an interesting comment to Rose as they talk the next morning. He can feel the Earth move, hurtling through space. When I first heard this, I thought it was an awesome line. It gives us this idea that the Doctor is someone strange, that he's alien, and the sense that he's powerful. But if we look a little more closely into it, that ability doesn't make any sense. According to physics, we can't feel the Earth moving because we're all going at a constant rate. Therefore, we might as well be stationery, because as long as we're spinning as fast as the Earth, it's unnoticeable. What the Doctor is saying is that he's exempt from this rule-he might as well be saying gravity doesn't effect him. This is never explained or expanded upon, which makes me wonder whether to accept it as a true statement (in the canon) at all. Science is science, and just being a Time Lord doesn't mean you don't have to follow its rules without a good reason.
     After a little bit of brilliant detective work on Rose's part (let's type "Doctor" into google and see what pops up), she goes to find a man who knows all about this mysterious man. We learn some ominous details about the Doctor, like the fact that he's found all throughout history. Ooh, and destruction follows wherever he comes. And one last thing, Rose, before you leave: he always has one companion. Death. As this sinks in, Mickey finds that a garbage can is creeping toward him, which is where we learn that the Nestene Consciousness must be after Rose to get information about the Doctor.
     This is also, however, where the episode just gets cartoonish. The garbage can proceeds to eat Mickey, burp (how is that supposed to work?), then magically make a Mickey replica out of no materials. Somehow, Rose doesn't seem to notice that something's wrong with Mickey, even though he's a plastic doll that can barely talk or drive. Perhaps her boyfriend is so incompetent and emotionless as it was, and she couldn't tell the difference. We proceed to have a battle between the Doctor and this monster, and the cartoon violence gets even more obvious.
     As Rose enters the Tardis for the first time, a great scene at face value, we also learn that the Doctor couldn't care less that Mickey is dead. Doesn't he have, I dunno, some sort of creed against that? I thought the whole point of the Doctor was that he valued life over everything. Rose herself seems to be more concerned with the Doctor's flippancy than the actual fact her boyfriend's dead. They quickly forget this little argument, and find Mickey safe and sound in a couple minutes.
     We proceed to learn that this episode has no logic guiding it at all. The mannequins, coming to life to destroy the world, have now all obtained laser guns in their fingers. How did this happen, again? Do we have reason to be concerned with the manufacturers of our mannequins?
                                                   
                                                              The Nestene Consciousness
     Finally, I would be interested to find out what the Doctor is talking about with the Consciousness about the war he fought in, the one he tried to help them with. Is there an earlier episode with that in it? From what I can find, the Doctor has only tried to thwart the Nestene. Well, that's all for this episode. Feel free to discuss in the comments anything you noticed about what went on in this episode or any feedback. Thanks for reading!